Well, I figure there was a place for positive things, so there might as well be a place for negative ones. Forgive me father, for I have sinned...

Living in South Carolina, there is an all you can eat BBQ buffet on just about every corner. The guys from work talked me into going and I thought I was strong enough to resist loading up my plate. And I was... until I went for seonds... I will try my hardest to recover by eating a salad for dinner. Making the change to eating right (less in my case) is a hard one and can not be done instantly. It takes time and I will prevail.

remember that your day isn't isolated from all other days. i try to balance my calories over the course of a week instead of a day. If you over eat one day, just cut out an extra 100-200 calories a day for teh next few days (or add it in exercise) to even it out. It makes it much less intimidating

Justin, We all know how difficult it is to start eating healthy. But if you are serious about weight loss and you want to see results, you have to stick with a daily healthy diet. The whole attitude of "one transgression can be somehow fixed in the future" is kind of a cop-out. This cycle will just repeat itself and never lead to any favorable long-term results. Change your mindset not to think of it as a "diet" but as a whole new way of living. Once you experience how good it feels to give up those things that you know are bad for you, you won't even miss them. You're doing great...stay strong...we know you can do it! Good Luck!

Hi Justin

Your situation was probably compounded by the guys from work that you were worth - they were probably encouraging you. I went out for dinner with a bunch of people from work Thursday night and they were all eating burgers and huge burritos and stuff. It was very hard to just eat my grilled salmon and rice, but I felt much better afterwards for doing so.

So you've been forgiven, get up, dust yourself off, and keep going.

Dude I work at Pizza Hut temptation much??? At 200-500kcal. per slice I just think about what else I could eat to do the same damage calorie wise and It's usually more filling food. We will be releasing a new temptation soon anyways. It has to do with lasagna and pizza. lol

(srry to chng the subj) but does balancing your colories over the week actually work? i was under the impression that at night your body stored your fat so the excess was put on in fat but then it is hard to make the body take the fat back off again...

@Justin -- We forgive you, man! Over the long haul, we all need to establish new eating habits to replace the ones that put us over our ideal weights; we don't need to slavishly adhere to a diet we can't maintain. Sounds like your heart is in the right place, even if your eyes and your stomach cashed some checks they couldn't afford on this round.

thanks guys and gals. I have been doing much better. I prepared a little box of the "bad food" and I brought it to work this morning. I am getting everyone else at work to raid their pantries as well so we can take it all down to the shelter. I also stocked up on green tea, that stuff is pretty damn good. I have to remember it's not a sprint, it's a marathon.

Remember that even top shape professional athletes follow their diet about 80-85% of the time. They do snack and eat foods they are not supposed to, but they often plan those ahead of time, and stick to it. So rather than "fixing the trangression" later, it's about train first, reward later.

It's an issue of discipline more than anything. Eating BBQ buffet when it's your birthday (for example) is very different than eating the same thing when it's a regular day and you got peer-presured into it.

Im with Colin. There are cases where eating becomes somehow of an important social issue and peer pressure can be very difficult to avoid; ok, we are all sinners but they will be the fatty ones very soon =)

Happy story:
Everybody at work is well aware of my plans and new brand lifestlyle and they're very supportive; we've done a bet type of thing: when I reach my goal and drop 20lbs THEY are getting a food prom just to thank them they watched over me all this time. They are all very excited and acting like real life motivators, involved in my workout agenda, counting calories for me... this is a win-win solution for us.

Good luck avoiding bad influences! (k)

Go to the BBQ, but don't have any sauce or skin on the meat, and eat conservatively... if anything its just high protein, low carb, medium fat, which is fine for losing weight

Yeah, I find myself agreeing with Nick a lot. You can usually make any social outing where food is involved diet-efficient. Go for the salads, the rare meats, and anything where mayo isn't involved.

No confessions today - pigging out on dill with my lunch salmon SO doesn't count!

it's just like stopping smoking, i decided i wasn't going to "give up", i simply was not going to do it anymore, it was no longer part of me.

and 5 months on, still not a smoke.

and lost weight in the process!

today...I made cookies. I ate 7 of them. 90 calories...each. 630 calories in cookies....hmmm...

Hi Justin. It's great that U realize that you've overeaten, but it's happened already! So don't feel guilty about it. Guilt is a very destructive feeling, and U should think positive no matter what. You enjoyed it? Great! It was too much? Just remember it and next time you come across that BBQ - skip it...

Not too far from my work is an all-you-can-eat Korean grill place - to die for. When i first started this diet or lifestyle change or whatever you want to call it, I caved in one day and went back there and did the typical eat-til-your-belt-won't-fit thing. Felt horrible about it afterwards and found myself going through the same questions that you are, Justin. Eventually I told myself to get over it and just get back to my plan. Last week, I went back again, but this time I found that once I'd had a bit of food that may have been a bit more than I needed for lunch but not the usual binge, I just didn't want any more. I didn't have to "force" myself to stop eating; I'd just gotten so used to the smaller portions that my body just told me "you're done, stop eating". I was able to have lunch with a co-worker who stuffed himself, but I didn't feel the need to do the same.

Like you said - it's a marathon. Stick with it, despite the occasional mistake, and you'll find as you go on that your mistakes become less frequent and less disastrous.